No answers for Chapman’s Friday flop

BOSTON — In the wake of Aroldis Chapman turning a win into a loss Friday night, when he had difficulty finding the strike zone, many opinions floated throughout Fenway Park on Saturday as to why the lefty closer hasn’t been as dominant this season as he was last year before being dealt to the Cubs in late July:

Cubs manager Joe Maddon overused Chapman in the postseason, especially in the World Series.

Chapman has been too reliant on his fastball, which pushes speed guns into triple digits, but hasn’t produced as many swings and misses.

The veteran lefty became too comfortable after inking a five-year deal for $86 million to return to The Bronx.

Hitters no longer are surprised to see triple-digit fastballs.

There is something physically wrong with Chapman, who was on the disabled list from May 14-June 18 with a rotator cuff tendinitis.

“The biggest thing is, he is not getting ahead in the count and can’t ex- pand the [strike] zone to get swings and misses,’’ pitching coach Larry Rothschild said of Chapman, who has three blown saves in 12 chances this season. “There has been inconsistencies there.’’

Chapman was better in Saturday’s 4-1, 16-inning win. He faced four hitters in the 14th inning, walked the first one and retired the next three.

Manager Joe Girardi and Rothschild believe Chapman is healthy, but the pitching coach said the closer might not be all the way back from the stint on the DL.

“It looks like the arm is working well but it’s not quite the same,’’ Rothschild said of Chapman, who has worked 11 games since returning from the DL and has two blown saves, one save and an ERA of 4.00. “I think it is catching up a bit. When you are comfortable, the arm does a lot of the work.’’

Asked about all 23 of Chapman’s pitches Friday night being fastballs, Rothschild said command issues pre- vented Chapman from going to his secondary stuff.

“He was inconsistent, but they didn’t have the fastball squared up, and when you get behind the eight ball, that’s what you are going to go with,’’ Rothschild said. “If he gave up a home run on a slider, you would ask why didn’t he throw the fastball. They didn’t hit the ball out of the infield. They weren’t great swings.’’

With the emergence of Chad Green out of the bullpen and Adam Warren healthy, Girardi is changing the struggling Tyler Clippard’s role.

“I am going to give Adam and Green some chances down there and use Clippard in some different situations,’’ Girardi said a day after Green worked the fifth and sixth innings, striking out five of the six Red Sox he faced, and Warren fired a scoreless seventh. “I might use him in the fifth or the sixth. If I don’t have a seventhinning guy I will use him in the seventh. It’s nothing permanent but right now I am going to use those guys a little bit.”

Green, who didn’t pitch Saturday, has not been used in back-to-back games yet, but that is coming, according to Girardi.

“That could change. We just felt we needed him for two innings [Friday] night, but we see that happening,’’ Girardi said of limiting Green’s workload in order to allow him to throw back-to-back. Girardi said Green wasn’t available for Saturday’s game.

In his first game back from a hamstring injury, Starlin Castro wasn’t taking a chance he might reinjure his right leg again when he doubled to right leading off the second inning.

“I am not going to rush there and try to get a triple in my first game back,’’ said Castro, who went 1-for-3 with a walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Jacoby Ellsbury in the ninth.

Aaron Judge (0-for-6) walked in the 13th and 15th innings and has reached base safely in 41 straight games.